For God, for family, for country: Colonial revival church buildings in the Cold War era

Mainline Protestant denominations of evangelical and Free Church origins built thousands of colonial revival church buildings in the fifteen years following World War II. Planned before and during the war, postwar churches were not replicas of colonial period churches; instead the large church “plants” were planned as “seven-day-a-week-churches.” Historically American Protestants had used their church buildings for a variety of functions. These mid-twentieth-century churches, however, differed significantly from Protestant predecessors. Denominations who had shunned liturgical practices and sacred spaces in the past acquired “sanctuaries.” The “sanctuary” plan was an aggregate of medieval and Renaissance church architectural elements, which provided ritual space and a sense of “holiness” to worship rooms.; Mid-twentieth century churches were built by congregations of all social classes in cities, as well as small towns, but are most often found in American postwar suburbs. Widely assumed to be products of the need for services in new suburbs, the church plants are actually the result of programmatic changes in the twentieth-century Protestant church. The rise of professionalism in Christian education and church architecture convinced even the smallest of churches that there were standards for good church architecture. Congregations were unable to accommodate new programs for a decade and a half during the Depression and World War II due to the poor economy and governmental controls on construction and materials. Although unable to build, denominational and church leaders made expansive plans for the postwar period. These plans required large building sites, which were available in the new suburbs.; Architects and church leaders in the Cold War period demanded a “modern church for a modern age” but congregations insisted on building a “church that looked like a church.” For thousands of American congregations, the church that looked like a church was the colonial revival church plant. Advertisers manipulated colonial architectural elements to create a sense of home, security and national strength during the Depression and World War II, and the colonial or vernacular church with spire became a symbol of peace and the American homeland.